Light Bulb Moment

Josiel Hernandez is the son of our guesthouse owners who is in chef school. I ask him questions to learn about Nicaraguan tortillas.

Laptop in front of me, I type notes, handing the laptop to Josiel to type the Spanish words.

I learn that:

·         Flour tortillas are Mexican, not Nicaraguan. Most flour tortillas in Nicaragua are imported.

·         Corn tortillas can  be served soft or fried crisp (tortillas fritas)

·         Corn tortillas are essential in the Nicaraguan diet. Many Nicaraguans with few resources eat them three meals per day—along with frijoles (beans).

·         Some more affluent Nicaraguans do not eat corn tortillas because they consider them low class. But Ricardo Hernandez loves them, and the family eats them often.

·         Most tortilla makers do not have full-scale pulperias (neighborhood home-based shops), but specialize in making corn tortillas.

·         In the Hernandez neighborhood are at least ten homes where women make and sell tortillas to earn money.

My adrenaline rises. One of my assignments from my co-author, Donna Biddle, is to interview a tortilla maker, gather some tortilla-making statistics, and take a photo. I may be able to fit that in before Friday after all!

I ask Josiel if he’d be willing visit a favorite tortilla vendor and translate. I’ll give him a list of questions in advance. He consents. We set a time, and he heads for the kitchen to make our evening meal.

Josiel’s English is far better than my Spanish, but still a little hesitant. I decide that a written list might help us both.

I turn to my laptop  to start my list of questions.

Then I realize I don’t have Josiel’s email address.

I remember the Hernandez ink jet printer is out of ink.

I  decide my computer screen will make clumsy reading at the tortilla shop.

Whatever will I do?

I have a light bulb moment.

I grab a pen, rip a page from my notebook, and start to write.

Duhhhhhhhhh…….